Travel Tips

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – November 15, 2024 – SHERIDAN, WYOMING – November 15, 2024 – The World Travel Market Ministers Summit, held in London in collaboration with UN Tourism and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), highlighted the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the tourism sector. The summit brought together tourism ministers from over 20 countries and private sector leaders from renowned companies like Expedia, HBX Group, JTB Corp, and SITA to discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by AI.

UN Tourism's Vision for AI in Tourism

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – November 15, 2024 – SHERIDAN, WYOMING – November 15, 2024 – The UN Tourism recently held its 18th Asia-Pacific Executive Training Programme on Tourism Policy and Strategy in Kuching, Malaysia, focusing on the evolving landscape of luxury tourism. The program welcomed high-level officials from 20 countries in the region to discuss and explore strategies for growing the luxury travel sector.

Redefining Luxury Travel

The program aimed to redefine luxury tourism by considering various factors, including socioeconomic development, natural and human resources, sustainability advancements, and planning within each country.

A Collaborative Effort

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – October 31, 2024 – SHERIDAN, WYOMING – October 31, 2024 – UN Tourism has achieved a significant milestone in integrating the tourism sector into the broader United Nations agenda with a new dataset on tourism employment. This dataset provides robust evidence to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Addressing a Critical Gap in SDG Monitoring

Tourism plays a crucial role in supporting the UN's 2030 Agenda, explicitly mentioned in Goal 8 on economic growth and decent work, Goal 12 on sustainable consumption and production, and Goal 14 on the sustainable use of oceans.

While global monitoring has primarily focused on tourism's economic contribution through the "Tourism Direct GDP" indicator, particularly concerning the promotion of sustainable tourism that creates jobs (Target 8.9), there has been a critical data gap regarding tourism's role as a global employment generator.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – October 27, 2024 – SHERIDAN, WYOMING – October 27, 2024 – UN Tourism, in partnership with France, is launching the UN Tourism National Open Innovation Challenge. This is the first time UN Tourism and the French Government have teamed up to support innovation and entrepreneurship in the tourism sector.

France, the world's most visited country with 100 million international tourist arrivals in 2023, is a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship. It boasts nearly 60,000 startups and over 30 unicorns.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – October 27, 2024 – SHERIDAN, WYOMING – October 27, 2024 – The critical role of women in tourism across Latin America and the Caribbean took center stage at the First Regional Conference on Women's Empowerment in Tourism. Co-hosted by UN Tourism and the Ministry of Tourism of Paraguay in Asunción on October 21-22, the conference debuted a comprehensive report highlighting the contributions and challenges faced by women in this vital sector.

The report underscored the significant role tourism plays in empowering women. Currently, women comprise 52% of the overall tourism workforce, with that number increasing to 60% in specific areas like accommodation and food services. Furthermore, the report revealed that 69% of those enrolled in tourism-related education programs are women, indicating a strong interest in tourism as a career path.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – October 27, 2024 – SHERIDAN, WYOMING – October 27, 2024 – Air Cairo has officially launched its new route from Cologne/Bonn Airport to Cairo, connecting travelers from the Rhine region to the capital of Egypt twice a week. The inaugural flight departed on Sunday, October 27th, at 11:40 am, marking the start of this exciting new connection.

Thilo Schmid, CEO of Flughafen Köln/Bonn GmbH, expressed his enthusiasm for the new route, stating, "Cairo, with its rich history and the world-famous Pyramids of Giza and Sphinx, is always worth a trip. Because many travelers are drawn to Egypt in autumn and winter, the new Air Cairo route is a great addition to our flight schedule."

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – October 7, 2024 – The 9th UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism will be held in Manama, Bahrain, on 18-19 November under the theme "Gastronomy Tourism: A Driver of Economic Diversification and Inclusion."

This is the first time the Forum will be held in the Middle East. Bringing together global leaders, policymakers, industry experts, and renowned chefs, the event will highlight the power of gastronomy tourism to advance economic resilience, inclusivity, sustainability, and build a strong image for destinations.

Top chefs join sector leaders

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – October 7, 2024 – Tourism leaders from both Africa and the Americas have jointly committed to working together to make the sector a pillar of collective sustainable and inclusive development across both continents.

The "Punta Cana Declaration" was adopted at the conclusion of the first joint meeting of UN Tourism's Regional Commissions for Africa and the Americas and followed two days of shared dialogue around the key themes of education and investments in the sector. Recognizing the historic ties between the two regions, as well as their unique and complementary cultures, the Summit served as a landmark platform for strengthened cooperation, capitalizing on innovation, education, investments, and creative industries for the future development of tourism.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – October 7, 2024 – UN Tourism and the TUI Care Foundation have launched "Colourful Cultures," an initiative aimed at supporting local artists and artisans, particularly women and youth, in rural tourism destinations across selected African countries.

Applications are now open for projects in Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, The Gambia, Tunisia, and Zambia.

The initiative aims to enhance the benefits of tourism for local artists and artisans, driving sustainable economic opportunities while safeguarding cultural heritage and enhancing community empowerment and engagement.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – October 7, 2024 – UN Tourism and easyJet holidays have stepped up their collaboration to develop a groundbreaking ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Framework for businesses across the sector.

According to the latest UN Tourism data, international tourist arrivals have returned to 96% of pre-pandemic levels, with full recovery likely by the end of the year. With further growth anticipated, there is a pressing need to look beyond the economic impacts of the sector and measure metrics relating to environmental dependencies, community impact, employee wellbeing, and much more. However, the sector currently lacks a unified Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting framework, making it difficult for tourism companies and stakeholders to measure, compare, and meaningfully communicate their sustainability efforts and impacts.

Scaling up support for ESG